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LitStoryTeller+: an interactive system for multi-level scientific paper visual storytelling with a supportive text mining toolbox

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Abstract

The continuing growth of scientific publications has posed a double-challenge to researchers, to not only grasp the overall research trends in a scientific domain, but also get down to research details embedded in a collection of core papers. Existing work on science mapping provides multiple tools to visualize research trends in domain on macro-level, and work from the digital humanities have proposed text visualization of documents, topics, sentences, and words on micro-level. However, existing micro-level text visualizations are not tailored for scientific paper corpus, and cannot support meso-level scientific reading, which aligns a set of core papers based on their research progress, before drilling down to individual papers. To bridge this gap, the present paper proposes LitStoryTeller+, an interactive system under a unified framework that can support both meso-level and micro-level scientific paper visual storytelling. More specifically, we use entities (concepts and terminologies) as basic visual elements, and visualize entity storylines across papers and within a paper borrowing metaphors from screen play. To identify entities and entity communities, named entity recognition and community detection are performed. We also employ a variety of text mining methods such as extractive text summarization and comparative sentence classification to provide rich textual information supplementary to our visualizations. We also propose a top-down story-reading strategy that best takes advantage of our system. Two comprehensive hypothetical walkthroughs to explore documents from the computer science domain and history domain with our system demonstrate the effectiveness of our story-reading strategy and the usefulness of LitStoryTeller+.

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Notes

  1. https://azure.microsoft.com/en-us/services/cognitive-services/entity-linking-intelligence-service/.

  2. https://azure.microsoft.com/en-us/services/cognitive-services/entity-linking-intelligence-service/.

  3. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_War_II.

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Acknowledgements

This study is supported by the project “A Visual Analytic Observatory of Scientific Knowledge” funded by National Science Foundation (NSF 1633286).

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Correspondence to Qing Ping.

Appendix

Appendix

Extractive summary generated in Hypothetical Walkthrough-I

See Table 5.

Table 5 Extractive summaries (N=5)

Extractive summary generated in Hypothetical Walkthrough-II

Article

Sentence id

Score

Entities

Sentence

Italian invasion of Ethiopia —1935

3

16.6

Ethiopia(1), Nazi Germany(9), Article X of the Covenant of the League of Nations(1), Austria(1), Kingdom of Italy(1), Comparative:1

Both Italy and Ethiopia were member nations, but the League did nothing when the former clearly violated the League’s Article X.<33> Germany was the only major European nation to openly support the invasion. Italy subsequently dropped its objections to Germany’s goal of absorbing Austria.<34>

2

10.14285

Ethiopia(0.5), Italian Somaliland(1), Kingdom of Italy(0.5), Italian East Africa(1), League of Nations(2), Ethiopian Empire(1), East African Campaign(2), Comparative:1

The war began with the invasion of the Ethiopian Empire (also known as Abyssinia) by the armed forces of the Kingdom of Italy (Regno d’Italia), which was launched from Italian Somaliland and Eritrea.<32> The war resulted in the military occupation of Ethiopia and its annexation into the newly created colony of Italian East Africa (Africa Orientale Italiana, or AOI); in addition it exposed the weakness of the League of Nations as a force to preserve peace

0

10

Benito Mussolini(5), Comparative:0

Benito Mussolini inspecting troops during the Italo-Ethiopian War, 1935

1

3

October 1935(1), May 1936(1), Comparative:0

The Second ItaloEthiopian War was a brief colonial war that began in October 1935 and ended in May 1936

Spanish Civil War—1936

4

28

Nazi Germany(9), Union of Soviet Socialist Republics(9), Comparative:1

Both Germany and the USSR used this proxy war as an opportunity to test in combat their most advanced weapons and tactics

1

16.25

Francisco Franco(1), Benito Mussolini(5), Second Spanish Republic(1), Adolf Hitler(6), Comparative:0

When civil war broke out in Spain, Hitler and Mussolini lent military support to the Nationalist rebels, led by General Francisco Franco

5

9.125

World War II(4), Francisco Franco(0.5), Francoist Spain(1), April 1939(1), Comparative:1

The Nationalists won the civil war in April 1939; Franco, now dictator, remained officially neutral during World War II

2

7.5

Second Spanish Republic(0.5), Union of Soviet Socialist Republics(4.5), Comparative:0

The Soviet Union supported the existing government, the Spanish Republic

0

3

Spanish Civil War(1), Bombing of Guernica(1), Comparative:0

The bombing of Guernica in 1937, during the Spanish Civil War, sparked Europe-wide fears that the next war would be based on bombing of cities with very high civilian casualties

Japanese invasion of China—1937

1

29.57142857

Marco Polo Bridge Incident(1), China(6), Germany(3), Beijing(1), Empire of Japan(4), Union of Soviet Socialist Republics(9), July 1937(1), Comparative:1

In July 1937, Japan captured the former Chinese imperial capital of Peking after instigating the Marco Polo Bridge Incident, which culminated in the Japanese campaign to invade all of China.<37> The Soviets quickly signed a non-aggression pact with China to lend materiel support, effectively ending China’s prior co-operation with Germany

5

21.9

Wuhan(1), Chinese people(5), China(3.0), Xuzhou(1), Chongqing(1), Imperial Japanese Army(2), Empire of Japan(2.0), June 1938(1), Yellow River(1), Kuomintang(2), Comparative:1

In March 1938, Nationalist Chinese forces won their first major victory at Taierzhuang but then the city of Xuzhou was taken by Japanese in May.<44> In June 1938, Chinese forces stalled the Japanese advance by flooding the Yellow River; this manoeuvre bought time for the Chinese to prepare their defences at Wuhan, but the city was taken by October.<45> Japanese military victories did not bring about the collapse of Chinese resistance that Japan had hoped to achieve; instead the Chinese government relocated inland to Chongqing and continued the war.<46><47>

2

12.25

Communist Party of China(2), Shanghai(1), Generalissimo(2), Taiyuan(1), National Revolutionary Army(1), Empire of Japan(1.0), Pingxing Pass(1), Battle of Shanghai(1), Comparative:1

From September to November, the Japanese attacked Taiyuan,<38><39> as well as engaging the Kuomintang Army around Xinkou<38><39> and Communist forces in Pingxingguan.<40><41> Generalissimo Chiang Kai-shek deployed his best army to defend Shanghai, but, after 3 months of fighting, Shanghai fell.

4

4

China(1.5), Empire of Japan(0.5), Nanjing(1), Comparative:0

After the fall of Nanking, tens of thousands if not hundreds of thousands of Chinese civilians and disarmed combatants were murdered by the Japanese.<42><43>

0

3.25

Imperial Japanese Army(1.0), Battle of Shanghai(0.5), Comparative:1

Japanese Imperial Army soldiers during the Battle of Shanghai, 1937

War breaks out in Europe—1939

11

50.53846

France(5), League of Nations(2), Soviet invasion of Poland(1), Nazi Germany(9), November 1939(2), Finland(3), Winter War(1), Red Army(6), United Kingdom(5), Baltic Sea(1), Union of Soviet Socialist Republics(9), Latvia(1), March 1940(1), Comparative:1

After signing the GermanSoviet Treaty of Friendship, Cooperation and Demarcation, the Soviet Union forced the Baltic countriesEstonia, Latvia and Lithuaniato allow it to station Soviet troops in their countries under pacts of “mutual assistance”.<76><77><78> Finland rejected territorial demands, prompting a Soviet invasion in November 1939.<79> The resulting Winter War ended in March 1940 with Finnish concessions.<80> Britain and France, treating the Soviet attack on Finland as tantamount to its entering the war on the side of the Germans, responded to the Soviet invasion by supporting the USSR’s expulsion from the League of Nations.<78>

6

31.8

Home Army(1), Polish Underground State(1), France(2.5), Nazi Germany(4.5), Poland(3), United States(7), Romania(5), Enigma machine(1), Polish resistance movement in World War II(1), Baltic states(2), Comparative:1

After the defeat of Poland’s armed forces, the Polish resistance established an Underground State and a partisan Home Army.<69> About 100,000 Polish military personnel were evacuated to Romania and the Baltic countries; many of these soldiers later fought against the Germans in other theatres of the war.<70> Poland’s Enigma codebreakers were also evacuated to France.<71>

1

27

Canada(2), New Zealand(2), France(1.25), Poles(1), Australia(7), 1890 British Ultimatum(1), Nazi Germany(2.25), South Africa(1), Commonwealth of Nations(2), Dominion(1), United Kingdom(2.5), Invasion of Poland(1), Comparative:1

On 1 September 1939, Germany invaded Poland under the false pretext that the Poles had carried out a series of sabotage operations against German targets near the border.<63> Two days later, on 3 September, after a British ultimatum to Germany to cease military operations was ignored, Britain and France, followed by the fully independent Dominions<64> of the British Commonwealth<65>Australia (3 September), Canada (10 September), New Zealand (3 September), and South Africa (6 September)declared war on Germany.

7

20.42857

France(0.625), Adolf Hitler(6), Nazi Germany(1.125), Neville Chamberlain(2), Poland(1.5), United Kingdom(1.25), Union of Soviet Socialist Republics(4.5), Comparative:1

On 6 October, Hitler made a public peace overture to Britain and France, but said that the future of Poland was to be determined exclusively by Germany and the Soviet Union

4

14.78571

Nazi Germany(0.5625), Poland(0.75), Japan(6), Union of Soviet Socialist Republics(2.25), Polish Armed Forces(1), Invasion of Poland(0.5), Warsaw(1), Comparative:1

On 17 September 1939, after signing a cease-fire with Japan, the Soviets invaded Poland from the east.<68> The Polish army was defeated and Warsaw surrendered to the Germans on 27 September with final pockets of resistance surrendering on 6 October

Western Europe | Mediterranean—1940

0

38.69230

Winston Churchill(3), United Kingdom(5), Norway(1), Sweden(1), Narvik(1), Denmark(1), Allies of World War II(7), Neville Chamberlain(2), May 1940(1), April 1940(1), Norwegian Campaign(2), Prime Minister of the United Kingdom(1), Nazi Germany(9), Comparative:1

In April 1940, Germany invaded Denmark and Norway to protect shipments of iron ore from Sweden, which the Allies were attempting to cut off by unilaterally mining neutral Norwegian waters.<86> Denmark capitulated after a few hours, and despite Allied support, during which the important harbour of Narvik temporarily was recaptured from the Germans, Norway was conquered within 2 months.<87> British discontent over the Norwegian campaign led to the replacement of the British Prime Minister, Neville Chamberlain, with Winston Churchill on 10 May 1940.<88>

19

29

Ion Antonescu(1), Romania(5), Hungary(3), Axis powers(4), Tripartite Pact(2), Union of Soviet Socialist Republics(9), Comparative:1

The Tripartite Pact stipulated that any country, with the exception of the Soviet Union, not in the war which attacked any Axis Power would be forced to go to war against all three.<109> The Axis expanded in November 1940 when Hungary, Slovakia and Romania joined the Tripartite Pact.<110> Romania would make a major contribution (as did Hungary) to the Axis war against the USSR, partially to recapture territory ceded to the USSR, partially to pursue its leader Ion Antonescu’s desire to combat communism.<111>

4

26.875

Paris(1), Armistice(1), United Kingdom(2.5), Vichy France(2), France(5), Italy(6), Battle of France(1), Nazi Germany(4.5), Comparative:1

On 10 June, Italy invaded France, declaring war on both France and the United Kingdom.<96> Paris fell to the Germans on 14 June and eight days later France signed an armistice with Germany and was soon divided into German and Italian occupation zones,<97> and an unoccupied rump state under the Vichy Regime, which, though officially neutral, was generally aligned with Germany

12

22

United States(7), China(6), Allies of World War II(3.5), Comparative:0

Throughout this period, the neutral United States took measures to assist China and the Western Allies.

23

22

United Kingdom(1.25), Benito Mussolini(5), October 1940(1), Battle of Crete(1), Italy(3.0), Adolf Hitler(6), Greece(2), Comparative:0

In October 1940, Italy started the Greco-Italian War because of Mussolini’s jealousy of Hitler’s success but within days was repulsed with few territorial gains and a stalemate soon occurred.<112> The United Kingdom responded to Greek requests for assistance by sending troops to Crete and providing air support to Greece

Axis attack on the USSR | War breaks out in the Pacific—1941

35

54.33333

United States(7), United Kingdom(5), Theodore Roosevelt(1), China(6), Australia(7), Axis powers(4), Germany(3), Japan(6), Union of Soviet Socialist Republics(9), Comparative:1

These attacks led the United States, United Kingdom, China, Australia and several other states to formally declare war on Japan, whereas the Soviet Union, being heavily involved in large-scale hostilities with European Axis countries, maintained its neutrality agreement with Japan.<166> Germany, followed by the other Axis states, declared war on the United States<167> in solidarity with Japan, citing as justification the American attacks on German war vessels that had been ordered by Roosevelt.<125><168>

34

40

American Athletic Conference(3), United States(3.5), Pacific Ocean(2), Battle of Hong Kong(1), Southeast Asia(3), Colonialism(1), Attack on Pearl Harbor(1), Malaysia(2), Asia(2), Thailand(2), Philippines(4), Allies of World War II(7), Ontario Highway 7(1), United States Pacific Fleet(1), Empire of Japan(4), Comparative:0

Japan planned to rapidly seize European colonies in Asia to create a large defensive perimeter stretching into the Central Pacific; the Japanese would then be free to exploit the resources of Southeast Asia while exhausting the over-stretched Allies by fighting a defensive war.<163> To prevent American intervention while securing the perimeter it was further planned to neutralise the United States Pacific Fleet and the American military presence in the Philippines from the outset.<164> On 7 December 1941 (8 December in Asian time zones), Japan attacked British and American holdings with near-simultaneous offensives against Southeast Asia and the Central Pacific.<165> These included an attack on the American fleet at Pearl Harbor, the Philippines, landings in Thailand and Malaya<165> and the battle of Hong Kong

18

31.28571

Eastern Europe(1), Kwantung Army(2), Axis powers(2.0), Red Army(6), Nazi Germany(9), Empire of Japan(2.0), Union of Soviet Socialist Republics(4.5), Comparative:1

By early December, freshly mobilised reserves<143> allowed the Soviets to achieve numerical parity with Axis troops.<144> This, as well as intelligence data which established that a minimal number of Soviet troops in the East would be sufficient to deter any attack by the Japanese Kwantung Army,<145> allowed the Soviets to begin a massive counter-offensive that started on 5 December all along the front and pushed German troops 100250 kilometres (62155 mi) west.<146>

15

27

Mediterranean Sea(3), Atlantic Charter(2), United States(1.75), United Kingdom(2.5), France(5), Persian Corridor(1), Eastern Front(2), Iran(1), Axis powers(1.0), Germany(1.5), Petroleum industry in Iran(1), Union of Soviet Socialist Republics(2.25), Comparative:1

The diversion of three quarters of the Axis troops and the majority of their air forces from France and the central Mediterranean to the Eastern Front<133> prompted Britain to reconsider its grand strategy.<134> In July, the UK and the Soviet Union formed a military alliance against Germany<135> The British and Soviets invaded neutral Iran to secure the Persian Corridor and Iran’s oil fields.<136> In August, the United Kingdom and the United States jointly issued the Atlantic Charter.<137>

9

22.64062

White movement(1), Caspian Sea(1), Ukraine(3), Finland(3), Baltic states(2), Hungary(3), Adolf Hitler(6), Union of Soviet Socialist Republics(1.125), Comparative:0

They were joined shortly by Finland and Hungary.<125> The primary targets of this surprise offensive<126> were the Baltic region, Moscow and Ukraine, with the ultimate goal of ending the 1941 campaign near the Arkhangelsk-Astrakhan line, from the Caspian to the White Seas

Axis advance stalls: Pacific | Eastern Front | Western Europe/Atlantic and Mediterranean—1942

26

65.05

American Athletic Conference(3), Atlantic Ocean(1), United States(7), Allies of World War II(7), Battle of Gazala(1), Dieppe Raid(1), Second Battle of El Alamein(1), Libya(2), Australia(7), Japan(6), Europe(4), Operation Torch(1), Kriegsmarine(2), Operation Crusader(1), Axis powers(4), Madagascar(1), Italy(6), Continental Europe(1), Germany(3), Egypt(2), Comparative:1

Exploiting poor American naval command decisions, the German navy ravaged Allied shipping off the American Atlantic coast.<199> By November 1941, Commonwealth forces had launched a counter-offensive, Operation Crusader, in North Africa, and reclaimed all the gains the Germans and Italians had made.<200> In North Africa, the Germans launched an offensive in January, pushing the British back to positions at the Gazala Line by early February,<201> followed by a temporary lull in combat which Germany used to prepare for their upcoming offensives.<202> Concerns the Japanese might use bases in Vichy-held Madagascar caused the British to invade the island in early May 1942.<203> An Axis offensive in Libya forced an Allied retreat deep inside Egypt until Axis forces were stopped at El Alamein.<204> On the Continent, raids of Allied commandos on strategic targets, culminating in the disastrous Dieppe Raid,<205> demonstrated the Western Allies’ inability to launch an invasion of continental Europe without much better preparation, equipment, and operational security.<206>

10

39.42105

Battle of the Java Sea(1), South China Sea(1), 33rd Division(1), Darwin(1), Allies of World War II(3.5), Singapore(1), British Army(1), Indonesia(2), Rabaul(2), Japan(3.0), Battle of Yenangyaung(1), Seamiew Records(1), Indian Ocean(1), Chinese people(5), Thailand(2), Philippines(4), Commonwealth of the Philippines(2), Malaysia(2), Myanmar(2), Comparative:1

By the end of April 1942, Japan and its ally Thailand had almost fully conquered Burma, Malaya, the Dutch East Indies, Singapore, and Rabaul, inflicting severe losses on Allied troops and taking a large number of prisoners.<175> Despite stubborn resistance by Filipino and US forces, the Philippine Commonwealth was eventually captured in May 1942, forcing its government into exile.<176> On 16 April, in Burma, 7,000 British soldiers were encircled by the Japanese 33rd Division during the Battle of Yenangyaung and rescued by the Chinese 38th Division.<177> Japanese forces also achieved naval victories in the South China Sea, Java Sea and Indian Ocean,<178> and bombed the Allied naval base at Darwin, Australia

13

33.14062

United States(3.5), Alaska(1), Allies of World War II(1.75), Aleutian Islands(2), China(6), Americans(3), Japan(1.5), Chinese people(2.5), Midway Atoll(1), Japanese naval codes(1), Battle of Midway(1), Army group(1), Doolittle Raid(1), Battle of the Coral Sea(1), Imperial Japanese Navy(2), US Marines(1), Comparative:1

The planned invasion was thwarted when an Allied task force, centred on two American fleet carriers, fought Japanese naval forces to a draw in the Battle of the Coral Sea.<181> Japan’s next plan, motivated by the earlier Doolittle Raid, was to seize Midway Atoll and lure American carriers into battle to be eliminated; as a diversion, Japan would also send forces to occupy the Aleutian Islands in Alaska.<182> In mid-May, Japan started the Zhejiang-Jiangxi Campaign in China, with the goal of inflicting retribution on the Chinese who aided the surviving American airmen in the Doolittle Raid by destroying air bases and fighting against the Chinese 23rd and 32nd Army Groups.<183><184> In early June, Japan put its operations into action but the Americans, having broken Japanese naval codes in late May, were fully aware of plans and order of battle, and used this knowledge to achieve a decisive victory at Midway over the Imperial Japanese Navy.<185>

0

27.85937

Atlantic Charter(2), United Kingdom(5), Allies of World War II(0.875), China(3.0), Declaration by United Nations(1), Axis powers(2.0), Four Policemen(1), Union of Soviet Socialist Republics(9), Comparative:1

On 1 January 1942, the Allied Big Four<169>the Soviet Union, China, Britain and the United Statesand 22 smaller or exiled governments issued the Declaration by United Nations, thereby affirming the Atlantic Charter<170>, and agreeing to not to sign a separate peace with the Axis powers

9

22.875

United States(1.75), Allied invasion of Italy(1), Turkey(2), Allies of World War II(0.4375), France(5), Balkans(3), Americans(1.5), Allied invasion of Sicily(2), Mediterranean Sea(3), Comparative:1

The British and Americans agreed to continue to press the initiative in the Mediterranean by invading Sicily to fully secure the Mediterranean supply routes.<173> Although the British argued for further operations in the Balkans to bring Turkey into the war, in May 1943, the Americans extracted a British commitment to limit Allied operations in the Mediterranean to an invasion of the Italian mainland and to invade France in 1944.<174>

Allies gain momentum—1943

6

65.9

Italy(6), Red Army(6), Adolf Hitler(6), Nazi Germany(9), Hamburg(2), United States(7), Allied invasion of Sicily(2), Union of Soviet Socialist Republics(9), Allies of World War II(7), Benito Mussolini(5), Comparative:1

Within a week, German forces had exhausted themselves against the Soviets’ deeply echeloned and well-constructed defences<217> and, for the first time in the war, Hitler cancelled the operation before it had achieved tactical or operational success.<218> This decision was partially affected by the Western Allies’ invasion of Sicily launched on 9 July which, combined with previous Italian failures, resulted in the ousting and arrest of Mussolini later that month.<219> Also, in July 1943 the British firebombed Hamburg killing over 40,000 people.<220>

21

41.92307

Assam(2), Australia(7), Burma Campaign(2), Battle of Kohima(1), Henan(1), United States(3.5), Changsha(4), China(6), Hunan(1), Battle of Imphal(1), Empire of Japan(4), Allies of World War II(3.5), Myitkyina(2), Comparative:1

In March 1944, the Japanese launched the first of two invasions, an operation against British positions in Assam, India,<243> and soon besieged Commonwealth positions at Imphal and Kohima.<244> In May 1944, British forces mounted a counter-offensive that drove Japanese troops back to Burma,<244> and Chinese forces that had invaded northern Burma in late 1943 besieged Japanese troops in Myitkyina.<245> The second Japanese invasion of China aimed to destroy China’s main fighting forces, secure railways between Japanese-held territory and capture Allied airfields.<246> By June, the Japanese had conquered the province of Henan and begun a new attack on Changsha in the Hunan province.<247>

19

33.725

Romania(5), Italy(3.0), Nazi Germany(4.5), Crimean War(2), Axis powers(4), Baltic region(1), Ukraine(3), Union of Soviet Socialist Republics(4.5), Allies of World War II(1.75), Roman Empire(1), Comparative:1

This delay slowed subsequent Soviet operations in the Baltic Sea region.<240> By late May 1944, the Soviets had liberated Crimea, largely expelled Axis forces from Ukraine, and made incursions into Romania, which were repulsed by the Axis troops.<241> The Allied offensives in Italy had succeeded and, at the expense of allowing several German divisions to retreat, on 4 June, Rome was captured.<242>

15

24.15625

Europe(4), Nazi Germany(2.25), November 1943(1), Burma Campaign(1.0), Joseph Stalin(1), Geography of Japan(1), Winston Churchill(3), Empire of Japan(2.0), NATO(2), Union of Soviet Socialist Republics(2.25), Allies of World War II(0.875), Tehran Conference(1), Comparative:1

By May 1943, as Allied counter-measures became increasingly effective, the resulting sizeable German submarine losses forced a temporary halt of the German Atlantic naval campaign.<230> In November 1943, Franklin D. Roosevelt and Winston Churchill met with Chiang Kai-shek in Cairo and then with Joseph Stalin in Tehran.<231> The former conference determined the post-war return of Japanese territory<232> and the military planning for the Burma Campaign,<233> while the latter included agreement that the Western Allies would invade Europe in 1944 and that the Soviet Union would declare war on Japan within 3 months of Germany’s defeat.<234>

3

21.51562

Canada(2), Gilbert Islands(1), New Zealand(2), Caroline Islands(1), Aleutian Islands(2), Australia(3.5), Pacific Ocean(2), Marshall Islands(1), Empire of Japan(1.0), Allies of World War II(0.4375), Rabaul(2), Chuuk Lagoon(1), Comparative:1

In May 1943, Canadian and US forces were sent to eliminate Japanese forces from the Aleutians.<214> Soon after, the US, with support from Australian and New Zealand forces, began major operations to isolate Rabaul by capturing surrounding islands, and breach the Japanese Central Pacific perimeter at the Gilbert and Marshall Islands.<215> By the end of March 1944, the Allies had completed both of these objectives, and had also neutralised the major Japanese base at Truk in the Caroline Islands

Allies close in—1944

9

48.25

Slovakia(2), Nazi Germany(9), Warsaw Pact(1), Red Army(6), Bulgaria(3), Romania(5), Union of Soviet Socialist Republics(9), Allies of World War II(7), Comparative:1

However, the largest of these in Warsaw, where German soldiers massacred 200,000 civilians, and a national uprising in Slovakia, did not receive Soviet support and were subsequently suppressed by the Germans.<254> The Red Army’s strategic offensive in eastern Romania cut off and destroyed the considerable German troops there and triggered a successful coup d’tat in Romania and in Bulgaria, followed by those countries’ shift to the Allied side.<255>

14

30.71428

Chindwin River(1), Assam(2), Myitkyina(2), Chinese people(5), Japan(6), Australia(7), Southeast Asia(3), Comparative:1

By the start of July 1944, Commonwealth forces in Southeast Asia had repelled the Japanese sieges in Assam, pushing the Japanese back to the Chindwin River<260> while the Chinese captured Myitkyina

2

25

Italy(6), France(5), Nazi Germany(4.5), Liberation of Paris(1), Allies of World War II(3.5), Comparative:1

After reassigning several Allied divisions from Italy, they also attacked southern France.<249> These landings were successful, and led to the defeat of the German Army units in France

15

24.1

Guilin(1), French Indochina(2), Hengyang(1), China(6), Mount Song(1), Changsha(4), Japan(3.0), Burma Road(1), Guangxi(1), Liuzhou(1), Comparative:1

In September 1944, Chinese force captured the Mount Song to reopen the Burma Road.<261> In China, the Japanese had more successes, having finally captured Changsha in mid-June and the city of Hengyang by early August.<262> Soon after, they invaded the province of Guangxi, winning major engagements against Chinese forces at Guilin and Liuzhou by the end of November<263> and successfully linking up their forces in China and Indochina by mid-December.<264>

12

19.85714

Douglas MacArthur(1), Siege of Budapest(1), Karelian Isthmus(1), Balkans(3), Finland(3), Union of Soviet Socialist Republics(4.5), Hungary(3), Comparative:1

A few days later, the Soviets launched a massive assault against German-occupied Hungary that lasted until the fall of Budapest in February 1945.<257> Unlike impressive Soviet victories in the Balkans, bitter Finnish resistance to the Soviet offensive in the Karelian Isthmus denied the Soviets occupation of Finland and led to a Soviet-Finnish armistice on relatively mild conditions,<258><259> although Finland was forced to fight their former allies

Axis collapse | Allied victory—1945

6

50

Italy(6), Nazi Germany(9), Berlin(1), Hamburg(2), Nuremberg(1), Poland(3), United States(7), Union of Soviet Socialist Republics(9), Allies of World War II(7), Comparative:0

In early April, the Western Allies finally pushed forward in Italy and swept across western Germany capturing Hamburg and Nuremberg, while Soviet and Polish forces stormed Berlin in late April

28

34

Sakhalin(1), Manchukuo(1), Kwantung Army(2), Red Army(6), Japan(6), Empire of Japan(4), Union of Soviet Socialist Republics(4.5), Allies of World War II(3.5), Yalta Conference(1), Kuril Islands(1), Comparative:1

The Allies justified the atomic bombings as a military necessity to avoid invading the Japanese home islands which would cost the lives of between 250,000 and 500,000 Allied servicemen and millions of Japanese troops and civilians.<283> Between the two bombings, the Soviets, pursuant to the Yalta agreement, invaded Japanese-held Manchuria, and quickly defeated the Kwantung Army, which was the largest Japanese fighting force.<284><285> The Red Army also captured Sakhalin Island and the Kuril Islands

25

21.41666

Nazi Germany(4.5), Winston Churchill(3), Prime Minister of Japan(2), United Kingdom(5), Empire of Japan(2.0), Clement Attlee(1), Comparative:1

They confirmed earlier agreements about Germany,<280> and reiterated the demand for unconditional surrender of all Japanese forces by Japan, specifically stating that “the alternative for Japan is prompt and utter destruction”.<281> During this conference, the United Kingdom held its general election, and Clement Attlee replaced Churchill as Prime Minister.<282>

15

20.8

Battle of Leyte(2), Philippines(4), Pacific War(5), United States(3.5), Commonwealth of the Philippines(2), Comparative:1

In the Pacific theatre, American forces accompanied by the forces of the Philippine Commonwealth advanced in the Philippines, clearing Leyte by the end of April 1945

1

12.66666

Antwerp(1), Nazi Germany(2.25), Italian Campaign(3), Ardennes(1), Allies of World War II(1.75), Western Front(1), Comparative:1

On 16 December 1944, Germany made a last attempt on the Western Front by using most of its remaining reserves to launch a massive counter-offensive in the Ardennes and along the FrenchGerman border to split the Western Allies, encircle large portions of Western Allied troops and capture their primary supply port at Antwerp to prompt a political settlement.<266> By January, the offensive had been repulsed with no strategic objectives fulfilled.<266> In Italy, the Western Allies remained stalemated at the German defensive line

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Ping, Q., Chen, C. LitStoryTeller+: an interactive system for multi-level scientific paper visual storytelling with a supportive text mining toolbox. Scientometrics 116, 1887–1944 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11192-018-2803-x

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